In Their Own Words

Veterans' Stories of Predatory For-Profit Schools

Maggie Crawford

Served in National Guard, Afghanistan

School: ITT Tech

Location: Ohio

Maggie, a member of the Army National Guard, served one tour in Afghanistan during 2008. When she was released in 2011, she enrolled in ITT Tech to study nursing. It wasn’t until the second quarter of her program that they told her she didn’t have 100 percent GI Bill coverage and couldn’t file for a Yellow Ribbon scholarship. Not only that, her professors encouraged her against asking questions, telling her that all the answers she needed would be in her books. According to Maggie ITT also lied about their nursing accreditation, at first telling her they were accredited and later telling her that their accreditation was pending. Maggie quit ITT tech and is still working to pay off $3,000 debt she incurred with them. She is currently enrolled at another for-profit school called Bryant Stratton College and is pleased with her experience so far.

Some for-profit schools see the New GI Bill as an opportunity to line their pockets with taxpayer dollars, but fail to deliver the education they promised for veterans. Many of them engage in aggressive and deceptive marketing practices, with budgets that are almost entirely funded by government dollars meant to go towards actual education for vets. Much of the time, they offer poor quality education and exploit a tax loophole that allows them to rake in nearly $125,000 per veteran in extra taxpayer dollars. IAVA is committed to closing this loophole and defending the New GI Bill against this and any attacks in the future.